Lefty says that the books allow him to do 80% of his green reading before he even gets to the putting surface
Mickelson: Blaming Slow Play On Green Reading Books "Idiotic"
The war on slow play has perhaps never been bigger after Bryson DeChambeau was heavily criticised for taking 2 minutes 20 seconds to hit a putt at the Northern Trust.
The clip of DeChambeau's putt was viewed over 2.5 million times on social media and many of his fellow pros were also critical.
It prompted the PGA Tour to announce that it was re-thinking its pace of play policy and has created a huge discussion on slow play within the wider golfing community.
One factor blamed for slow play at the professional level is green reading books.
DeChambeau said that he took so long to read the putt because his greens book was telling him there was 4 inches of break, which he couldn't see.
However, Phil Mickelson among others have leapt to the defence of them and said that they are not what is slowing down play.
"The greens book allows me to do 80% of my read before I even get to the green. For anyone to say they slow up play is flat out idiotic," the five-time Major winner said in reply to a tweet from Rickie Fowler's caddie.
Fowler's bag man Jo Skovron tweeted that they can actually speed up play.
"I don’t care if green books are legal or not but I don’t buy blaming them for slow play. If you use them correctly and at the right time it can actually speed up your reads," he wrote.
Ian Poulter also replied that it was "correct" and he uses his whilst walking up to the green.
This does slightly contradict what Poulter said on the books last year when he tweeted that they "should be banned" -
However, one man who thinks that greens books slow down play is Golf Channel analyst and pro Brandel Chamblee -
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